Happy Birthday to Me

by Renee on January 7, 2011

January 7th is here, and that means I’m officially another year older and hopefully, wiser. I share my birthday with a coworker (honestly, I’m old enough to be her mother), a few Facebook friends, and actor Nicolas Cage, who is even the same age as me–we were born on the exact same day. I think I look much younger. Sorry, Nic.

I’m not a big new year’s resolution maker, but this year I can’t help but notice I’m only three short years away from the half century mark (something my husband Paul hits next month, heh). And I’ve decided that if I’m going to go on enjoying beer as much as I have been the past year, I need to do a few things to balance that out in the healthy living department. So I signed up for yoga classes starting this weekend, and I’ve made a pledge to make small changes to my eating habits that will add up to fewer calories along the way: namely, more salads for lunch, fewer fries. I also need to walk my dog more often. It’ll be better for the both of us. (He’s a 100-pound lab, as I mentioned in my last post. A wee bit portly for his stature.)

I really don’t feel any differently than I did on my 17th or 27th or even 37th birthdays, and yet decades separate those occasions. I still love dogs, books, beer, wine, laughing with friends, being a mom, my career path, visiting new places, revisiting the beach, classic rock, sleeping late, wearing jeans, cinnamon gum and getting black jelly beans in my Easter basket. My hair is a little greyer, my waist a little thicker, and my laugh a little louder.

I look at every birthday as a chance to set some new goals for myself, as the world starts a new calendar year along with me. I have a few in mind for 2011, with an eye on some big and some not-so-big changes. I know there will be plenty of challenges along the way. But I’m commited to following my passion, because life isn’t slowing down any, and I have to agree with William Butler Yeats, who said,

From our birthday, until we die,
Is but the winking of an eye.

Thanks to my good friends Sally & Sally, who surprised the hell out of me by putting this giant inflatable beer bottle in my yard last night–I came around the corner, and nearly drove into my neighbor’s garage when I saw it! I guess everyone on my street knows I like beer now. I was just thankful it wasn’t an inflatable bottle of Coors or Bud 🙂

So, tonight I’m looking forward to starting the World Tour of Beers at the Winking Lizard with Paul, some friends and a few fellow beer lovers. If you’re near their Miles Road location, feel free to drop by and share a toast to another trip around the sun for all of us in 2011. Cheers~

🙂 Today is also my ex-boyfriend’s birthday…but I dumped him on it in 2006. It sounds harsh, but I’d like to say that I DID buy him a beautiful leather motorcycle jacket…and an engraved flask, and that he deserved it.

But on a wonderfully happy note, it’s your birthday! I’d come buy you a beer, but I will be in Pennsylvania. I hope you have a fantastic time, though, and that everyone at your party (or just you) consume the amount of beer that could fit in that inflatable beer bottle in your yard. CHEERS!